Energizers can be a a powerful teaching tool, and be deployed strategically to excellent effect.
That’s not what this article is about.
This article is designed for when you need something fun to do in class FAST, and you don’t have a lot of time to prepare.
Here you go:
Note: This game requires an even number of players. But don’t worry if you have an odd number of students, a teacher will just have to join in to even out the teams!
Choose one student to be the “cat” and one to be the “mouse.” Everyone else gets into pairs and finds a spot to stand, linking arms with their partner. The pairs are not allowed to move from their spot.
The cat’s goal is to catch the mouse. The mouse’s goal is to run away. BUT the mouse can also link arms with one person in a pair. If the mouse does this, the player on the other end lets go and becomes the mouse. Thus, there is always one cat and one mouse.
When a mouse gets caught, they become the cat and the cat becomes the mouse. The new cat needs to turn around in place one time before chasing the new mouse.
That’s it! The game continues as long as you want it to.
Source: Jessica Swale
This game as one-half “rock paper scissors” and one-half chasing and tagging.
Setup: You need to mark “end zones” and a “center line” for this game. Teams will face off at the center line, then one team will be running back to the end zone. with the other team chasing them. If they can get back to their end zone without getting tagged, they are safe.
How to play:
Divide the group into two equal teams (they don’t need to be EXACTLY equal, it’s OK if one team has an extra player).
Each team is trying to wipe out the other team by capturing all their players. The game progresses in a series of rounds.
To start the round, each team decides whether they will be “wizards”, “giants”, or “elves”. Everyone on the team will play the same role.
This is the “rock paper scissors” part of the game.
The referee counts “One. Two. Three. Four.” On each beat, the teams advance on each other. On four, they reveal their identities by striking a pose:
Now it’s time for the chasing and tagging. As soon as the teams reveal their identity, the team that “lost” runs back to their end zone, with the team that “won” chasing them.
Everyone who gets tagged has been captured, and now joins the other team.
The game ends when one team has been fully absorbed into the other team (or when you decide everyone has had enough).
Source: Chris Johnston
Note: This game requires a ball (or other passable object)
Divide students into two equal teams.
Each team stands in a single-file line, facing in the same direction. First person passes the ball over their head, next person passes under their legs and on it goes, the ball needs to make it all the way down the line, and back up the line to the starting person, in order to win.
Source: Regina Kruglyak
Stand in a circle. Explain that you will be throwing an invisible ball around the circle.
You make eye contact with someone across the circle, throw the invisible ball to them, and make a sound. They catch it, making the same sound as you, then throw it to someone else. That person catches it, making the same sound as the person who threw it, and so on.
Source: Stacey Caillier
Students work as a group to pass energy around the circle in the form of a clap. Person A swivels to the person on the left and the two clap simultaneously. Person B then swivels to the left and simultaneously claps with Person C, thus passing the clap again to the left. The next student repeats so that the clap is passed all the way around the circle. Early efforts are unlikely to be a series of smooth, fluid gestures, though that’s the goal. Practice so that the “energy” passes seamlessly and quickly around the circle with each person making eye contact when clapping with the person next to them and passing it on.
As the class becomes more accomplished, begin a second clap moving in the same direction. Add a third clap, so that multiple claps are moving around the circle at the same time. Increase the speed.
Source: Kurt Wootton and Eileen Landay
This activity is similar to ENERGY PASS. The name came from the act of swatting an imagined mosquito at the Habla Education Center in Mérida, Mexico. Gather participants in a large circle. Person A will swivel left. Person B will duck. Then, Person A will make eye-contact with Person C and they will simultaneously clap over person B’s back. Person B quickly returns to standing. Person C ducks down. Person B makes eye contact with Person D and they clap simultaneously over Person C’s back. Continue around the circle. The initial rounds will be slow, and many people will make mistakes. Stop and reflect, asking “What does it take for us as a group to be successful?” Resume the activity, aiming for a fluid movement around the circle.
Source: Kurt Wootton and Eileen Landay
Supplies:
Give each student a piece of masking tape ask them to secretly write down a random person, place or thing and stick it on the forehead of the student next to them. Go around the circle and allow each student to ask yes or no questions to the group. Their goal is to eventually guess who or what they have written on their forehead.
Source: Regina Kruglyak
Supplies:
One student writes a sentence at the top of the page and passes it on. The next student draws a picture of the sentence above. Then, the artist folds the paper over so that the first sentence is no longer visible and passes it on. The next student has to write a sentence to describe the picture above. Etc.
Source: Regina Kruglyak
Johnson, C. (2009). Drama games for those who like to say no. Nick Hern Books.
Swale, J. (2009). Drama games for classrooms and workshops. Nick Hern Books.
Wootton, K. and Landay, E. (2023, December 20). The performance cycle: building community. High Tech High Unboxed. https://hthunboxed.org/the-performance-cycle-building-community/
All other sources credited in this article are unpublished.
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